Operation
This demonstration is comprised of two hardware units.
- Satellite camera RTU (shown below)
- BEAM RST100 Iridium satellite terminal
The camera RTU attaches to the BEAM RST100 satellite terminal via an RS232 serial connection and upon powerup, establishes a 2400 baud PPP dialup connection using the modem within the BEAM unit via the Iridium satellite network. With a PPP session established, the camera (Axis 2120 network camera) takes a still color 320x220 jpeg image (approx 11Kb) and FTP's it to the TRL demo telemetry server. A client can view a gallery of FTP'ed images using their web browser pointing to an authenticated account on the TRL demo telemetry server. The authentication details are available on request from Noel Sandstrom (TCW QLD).
The satellite camera RTU is a portable unit designed to run off rechargable batteries.
To keep power consumption down and reduce the amount of times needed for battery recharging, the camera RTU has variable power up and power down times (duties). These are set via the T1 and T2 controls on the teletimer module inside the camera RTU. Times from seconds thru to days can be set.
To allow frequent operation of the camera for demo purposes, the camera has been set to be off for 30seconds, wakeup for 6 minutes then turn off for 30 seconds and repeat the cycle indefinately. However in a real world application, the camera may need to be on for only 6 minutes once a day.
Due to the 2400 baud Iridium connection and the latencies involved in data transmission of the camera image, it is recommended that the camera RTU "on" time be set no lower than 6 minutes, otherwise the RTU may not have enough time to complete the FTP of the image.
It is recommended that the camera RTU batteries be recharged every night, prior to a demo. This will always ensure fully charged batteries for portable operation during the demo. It is estimated that a fully charged battery is able to run the camera RTU continuosly for about 8 hours before needing a recharge.
To find out more about this demo, please contact Noel Sandstrom (TCW QLD).
